SEC Media Days notes: ESPN creates SEC documentary series

HOOVER, Alabama -- The ESPN unit that created the "30 for 30" series will produce four one-hour documentaries each year telling stories about the SEC. The series, titled "Storied," will debut on ESPNU on Sept. 7 at 7 p.m. with a documentary on Herschel Walker.

The second film will highlight the first SEC Championship Game, held in Birmingham, and air in December. All of the films will re-air on ESPN or ESPN2.

SEC Commissioner Mike Slive had previously talked about his strong interest in creating these documentaries. Burke Magnus, ESPN senior vice president of college sports programming, said ESPN will consult with the SEC on topics.

"It's not all going to be something that doesn't border on controversial," Magnus said. "But I also don't think you'll see anything like Pony Excess (the "30 for 30" show about pay-for-play at SMU in the 1980s) or anything that hard-hitting. The SEC's biggest concern is it will be an equitable distribution among the schools on what the stories focus on, and that it's not all one school or all one sport. As much as we probably would suggest, 'Hey, let's do four football things a year,' we're going to have to be more diverse than that."

Slive on expansion

Texas A&M has scheduled a closed-door session this week regarding the Big 12 Conference, causing speculation of another A&M-SEC flirtation. However, the Houston Chronicle reported Texas A&M -- troubled by Texas' new Longhorn Network -- is committed for now to make a 10-team Big 12 work and the threat of a possible move to the SEC is not in the immediate future.

Last summer, Texas A&M could have jumped to the SEC if the Big 12 had imploded. At the time, Slive said there would need to be a "paradigm shift" among other conferences for the SEC to make a move.

"I'm going to think about and do things that are in the long-term best interests of the SEC," Slive said today. "We're going to continue to be strategic and thoughtful. I'm going to leave it at that."

Bell still remembered

Teammates continue to remember deceased Mississippi State football player Nick Bell, a Bessemer native. Quarterback Chris Relf wore a bracelet to SEC Media Days with Bell's name and jersey No. 36 along with the phrase, "Bulldog for Life."

Bell died last November at the age of 20 after a brief bout with cancer.

"You see 36 all the time. It just feels like he's right beside you," Relf said. "The night before the Arkansas game, I had a dream. I was going through the Dawg Walk and Nick Bell shook my hand and told me I'd be OK, and I just woke up after that."